Decorative batting



March 18, 1958 T. D. COLE DECORATIVE BATTING Filed Feb. 23, 1956 Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q Q QQQ 1 VENTO $5 4 aiz or'fieys'.

ilnited States iiatent ,Gfitiee 2,827,4li Patented Mar. 18, 1958 DECQRATIVE BATTING Thomas D. Cole, Lockport, N. Y., assignor to Lockport Mills, inc Lockport, N. Y.

Application February 23, 1956, Serial No. 567,155

1 Claim. (Cl. 154-46) This invention relates to cotton batting decorated with metal foil or other sheet material.

Cotton batting has been used in connection with many different types of decorations and also for decorative wrapping for articles. Colored materials of various types have also been applied to cotton batting to supplement the white fluffy appearance with particles which glisten or impart color or contrast to the cotton batting. Such colored material has usually been in the form of small particles or flecks which are applied to the cotton batting by means of a suitable adhesive or cement.

it is an object of this invention to provide cotton batting with a decorative material which requires no adhesive and which is in the form of more or less continuous layer of material which adheres to the cotton batting merely by being pressed into contact therewith, so that any discoloration or stifiening of portions of batting due to the use of adhesives is avoided.

With decorated cotton batting as heretofore made, some of the small flecks of material would become detached from the batting and become strewn on a floor or table, thus requiring sweeping or picking up. It is another object of this invention to provide decorated batting in which the decorating material is in the form of a sheet, which adheres more securely to the batting and which, if it should become detached therefrom, can be easily picked up.

Other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following description of one embodiment of the invention and the novel'features will be particularly pointed out hereinafter in connection with the appended claim.

in the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a face view of a piece of cotton batting having a decoration in the form of a metal foil applied thereto.

Figs. 2 and 3 are fragmentary sectional elevations thereof, on an enlarged scale, on lines 2-2 and 3-3, respectively of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a face view of a piece of metal foil or similar material provided with rows of slits in which the slits in adjacent rows are in staggered relation, this sheet when pulled at its opposite ends transversely of the slits resulting in the formation of an expanded sheet or metal foil as shown in Fig. 1.

Cotton batting in sheet form is generally made by depositing successive layers of garnetted or carded cotton, one layer on top of another until the batting has acquired the desired thickness. The cotton fibers of the successive layers become intermeshed, matted or bonded together in such a manner that the successive layers adhere to each other to produce what appears to be a single sheet or body of fibers.

Referring to the drawings, 5 represents a mass or sheet of cotton batting, which is preferably formed by successive layers of cotton fibers.

The decorative sheet material which is to be applied to the upper surface of the cotton batting is preferably formed from a sheet of metal foil, plastic sheet material, paper, or other sheet material 6 which is formed with a large number of openings and somewhat similar in appearance to a net. For example, a sheet may be provided with slits 7, see Fig. 4, which are preferably arranged in rows and the rows in turn are arranged in such a manner that the slits in each row will be in staggered relation to the slits of adjacent rows. The slits are preferably considerably longer than the spaces between slits, and when the opposite edges of this sheet are pulled in a direction transverse to the slits, the sheet will greatly expand in length and will be contracted to some extent in width and will assume the appearance of the decorative net-like sheet shown in Fig. 1. This sheet may, of course, be of different design or shape from the one shown, it being merely necessary that the sheet has a large number of cut edges spaced apart and arranged so as not to sever the sheet into many small parts.

I have found that the cut edges of sheets of most materials are relatively rough, being provided with a large number of microscopic serrations or projections, even when the cutting is done with sharp tools. I have also found that when a layer of material of this type is placed upon a layer of cotton batting and pressed against the same, the fibers of the cotton batting will intermesh or become interlocked with the rough edges of the cut portions of the decorative sheets, and also some of the fibers of the cotton batting will overlap surfaces of the decorative sheet so that the decorative material will to a certain extent adhere to the cotton batting. This adhesion of the fibers to the decorative material may also be due to the fact that cotton fibers themselves have minute projections which cause them to felt or adhere to other fibers, and these projections may adhere to the rough edges of the cuts in the decorative material. While this adhesion is not sufficient to prevent the decorative sheet from being separated from the cotton batting by slight force or pull, yet, nevertheless, there will be suflicient adhesion between the sheet and the cotton batting so that during ordinary uses of the decorated cotton batting, the decorative sheet will remain in place on the cotton batting.

In the manufacture of my improved decorative batting, the sheet or foil of decorative material is placed on a surface of the batting which is then passed through calendering rolls, after which it will be found that there is good adhesion between the decorative sheet and the batting. Consequently, my improved decorative batting can be produced without the use of adhesives of any kind so that the batting retains its original appearance and also retains its flexibility. When adhesives are used for attaching the decorative material to the batting, the adhesives tend to change the nature of the cotton batting, sometimes causing discoloration thereof and generally resulting in the cotton batting having a certain amount of stiffness or hardness applied to the parts thereof to which the adhesive is applied, so that the fiufiy, snowlike surface of the cotton is often flattened, losing its natural snow-like appearance.

There are also decided advantages in applying decorative sheet material in the manner described to cotton ba tting, rather than to apply flecks or small particles of decorative material to the cotton. There is always a tendency of the decorative flecks or small particles of material to become loosened from the cotton batting so that they will drop out with the result that they change the original appearance of the cotton batting and also are sometimes somewhat difiicult to pick up from the furniture, carpets or rugs on which they drop. By means of my improved construction, a much better adherence of the decorative material to the batting results, since if certain parts or areas of the decorative material do notadhere to the cotton batting because of interlocking of fibers with the material, then such material will, nevertheless, be held 3 in place on the batting because of the fact that parts of the decorative material adjacent to' suchr unattached portion will serve to hold the unattached portion in correct relation to the batting. While I have shown the sheet of decorative material entirely covering'the cotton batting,

it will beobvio'us that the decorative materialmay be applied to the cotton batting in strips spaced apart to' leave some of the cotton batting undecorated.

While I. have described my invention mainly for use with cotton batting, it will be obvious that batting of other vegetable or animal fibers, or mixtures thereof with synthetic fibers which have the property of becoming matted, may be employed. For most purposes, it is preferred that the batting be flame-proofed, since I have found thatflame-proofing does not interfere with the adhesion of thedecorative material to the batting.

Under some circumstances where an exceptionally strong adhesion of the decorative material to the batting is. desired, the back surface'of: the decorative material may have an adhesive applied thereto to supplement the intermeshing action of the cotton fibers with the decora tive material. i

It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials, and arrangements of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain 7 the nature of the invention, may be made by those skilled 4 in the art within the principle and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claim.

I claim:

Decorative batting made of matted fibers and having a sheet of decorative material applied to the upper surface thereof, said decorative sheet being made of a thin, lightreflective material having rows of slits cut therein, said rows being spaced closely together and having the slits of one row staggered with relation to the slits of adjacent rows and the sheet being expanded by pulling the same 7 in a direction transverse of said slits to form a decorative sheet of net-like appearance with a large number of openings bounded bynarrow strips of material with which the fibers of the batting interlock, said slits also having edges with which some of the fibers of the batting interlock to releasably hold the decorative sheet in place on thebatting.

References Cited in the file of thispatent 7 UNITED STATES PATENTS.

1,917,456 'Mickelson July 11, 1933 2,359,205 Cowan Sept. 26, 1944 2,489,541 Read Nov. 29, 1949' 2,758,952 Toulmin Aug. 14, 1956 

